Public Enterprise and the Politics of `Commercialism': Changing Industrial Relations in British and Spanish Railways

Abstract

This article makes use of case studies of British and Spanish railways to examine changing patterns of industrial relations in the public enterprise sector. It looks at how political objectives are characteristically `transmitted' from the state to the public enterprise. Transmission mechanisms include formal rules and direct intervention, as well as political bargaining and `exchange' involving political authorities, enterprise management and, at times, the unions. A typical feature is the pressure towards symbolic courses of action. The article argues that this process influences the way in which industrial relations have responded to recent pressures for greater commercialism in public enterprises, and explores the reasons for the differences in the response of the two railway companies.